InS 9 Blogpost

The nature vs. nurture argument is about whether our behaviors are shaped by the people and the environment around us or whether it is shaped by our natural instincts. There is yet to be a completely correct answer, but the researches and studies done on humans and other animals have shown that both sides could be correct.

The first study was about how female babies are expected to get girly toys like dolls and how male babies are given helicopters and cars. The researchers were trying to find out whether it was the adults who gave girls “girly” toys and boys “boy-ly” toys or was it the babies who chose with their instincts. The test involved a complete stranger and the baby. The adult was told that they had to be in a room with the baby and that the researchers would watching the baby and how he/she acted. However, the researchers were actually watching the adult and what kind of toys he gave to the baby. One more twist is that the “boy” baby was actually a girl, and the “girl” baby was actually a boy. The adult gave the “boy” a truck, a helicopter and a car. The adult gave the “girl” a doll. This shows that the adults are what is pushing these gender stereotypes on girls and boys.

The second study was about whether it is still the same to monkeys. The researchers put dolls on the ground near the young female monkeys while they put helicopters and cars near the young male monkeys. The test showed that the male monkeys were actually interested in the vehicles while a female monkey took a pink monkey doll up the tree. A possible explanation is that the female thought the doll was a baby monkey so she knew that she had to take care of it as an instinct.

In my opinion I would believe that our societies have shaped us a lot. We are nowhere near the humans who were living on earth 10000 years ago. We almost have no influences from our instincts about how females should take care of children and males should be the hunters. In my opinion humans’ behaviors are dictated more by nurture than nature significantly.